The Blind Pro-Bender
by PrincessAurora1000
Summary: After one of their big matches, Bolin's life changes. Will his friends be able to help him.
1. Chapter 1

They had totally nailed that match, Bolin thought happily as he headed out for the gym. The past few weeks had been a little ruff to say the least. With Mako and Korra kissing, finding out that he does not have a chance with Korra, and than them nearly losing matches because of all that drama. Despite all of this they had managed to get things together and where heading to the championship. From Bolin's point of view all was right with the world, and he was going to celebrate.

He had thought briefly about going out with Mako and Korra, but with everything that had happened he didn't want things to start falling apart again. So it was just going to be him and Pabu. He was going to go to one of his favorite restaurants, this nice little restaurant near the docks that served the best Fire Nation food in the whole city.

He was right at the docks when humming a tune, he had made up in his head, when he noticed someone following him.

"Who's there?" Bolin called looking over his shoulder, then he saw Tahno and the rest of the Wolfbats walking up to him. Bolin glared at them.

"Well, well, well," Tahno said with a smirk on his face. "Look what we have here guys. Its little Bo Bo from the Fart Ferrets."

"That's Fire Ferrets," Bolin corrected.

"That's what I said," Tahno said walking up to Bolin and throwing his arm around his shoulder. Tahno held a tight grip on Bolin's shoulder so that he could not get away.

"You see Bolin, we have a little problem," Tahno said.

"You lost your hairdresser," Bolin said with a nervous smile on his face. "I know a great one who works on the Eastside."

"No, that not it," Tahno said. "My problem is that there is a new referee for the match in a few days."

"How is that a problem," Bolin asked not likely where this was going.

"You see Bo Bo, we have been paying the referees off so that the matches will go in our favor. This new referee is not going to go for that."

"So this will give you a chance to win on your own merits," Bolin said.

The smirk on Tahno's face only grew and he pushed Bolin forward toward the rest of his team. Before Bolin could even begin to defend himself he was hit by a fireball thrown by the Wolfbats firebender, then he was hit by a rock thrown their earthbender. The Wolfbats kept this up for a while never letting Bolin get a chance to defend himself. Finally, it was over when Tahno hit Bolin with a water whip with such focus that Bolin was sent to the side of the dock where he hitting his head hard on the dock's railing, knocking him out.

"Win on our own merit," Tahno said shaking his head, "Why do that if we can simply take out the competition. If a team doesn't have three benders they can't play."

"Come on guys," Tahno said turning to his teammates, "We should not be here when he is found. You know there is this great Fire Nation restaurant near here that I want to try out."

With that the three teammates headed out leaving Bolin where he was.

Across town at the Probending gym, Mako was busy training for the big match. He was sending a fire blast at a pictures of the Wolfbats that he had hung up to practice with, when he was focus to send the blast in another direction. Pabu had ran right in front of it.

"Pabu, what are you doing?" Mako shouted. "Bolin come get your ferret."

Mako was surprised to get no response.

"Bolin," Mako said again. Bolin never went anywhere without that ferret of his. It was than that Mako noticed that the ferret was pulling on his pants legs.

When Pabu got Mako's attention he ran to the door and turned around to make sure that Mako was following him. Realizing what the ferret wanted Mako ran after it.

Pabu took off.

The further Pabu went the more worried Mako became. His gut was telling him something was wrong and he was not going to calm down until he saw that Bolin was okay.

When they got to the docks and Pabu ran up to the beaten figure laying on the edge of the docks, Mako felt like his world had collapsed on itself.

"Bolin!"

Mako ran to his brother and could not believe his eyes. Every part of Bolin that he could see was covered in bruises, left arm appeared to be broken and there was blood coming out the side of his head.

Wasting no time Mako picked his brother up and ran. He needed to get Bolin help.

Mako knew that there was a hospital a few miles from where they where, so he headed in that general direction. He was half way to the hospital when he ran into a polar bear dog, one that had the Avatar sitting on it.

"Korra, help," Mako said once he was in earshot.

Korra turned and gasped when he saw Bolin.

"What happened?" Korra asked.

"I don't know," Mako said, "Pabu just lead me to were he was laying on the docks. It appears that someone attacked him."

Korra jumped off of Naga and took Bolin from Mako.

"Here let's get him on Naga and head to Air Temple Island," Korra said getting Bolin onto Naga. "We have some of the best waterbending healers there."

Mako nodded and followed Korra onto the polar bear dog. Korra got Naga going quick, but now that he was not the one primarily in charge of his brother's care Mako could not help but worry. Once he had lost his parents Bolin became the only family he had. He could not lose him. Along with this worry came something else. Mako was angry. How dare someone attack his brother. When he found out who did this they were going to pay; they were the ones who were going to needed a healer.

The trip to Air Temple Island was mostly a blur to Mako, so much so that he was also surprised when the got there and Bolin was taken to the healers' rooms. After that Tenzin questioned him and Korra about what had happened. Once that was done Tenzin went to send word to Chief Beifong to report the assault.

Now it was a waiting game.

Mako refused to go very far from where he knew that his brother was being treated. He sat down by a tree that sat in clear view of the healer's door that Bolin was in. Korra, however, could not sit down, continuing to pace back in forth in front of the room.

After a few hours of this the healer came out of the room. Mako and Korra went to meet her.

"He will survive and most of his injures will heal in time," the healer said answering their unanswered question.

"Now we can focus on finding out who did this to him," Korra said with a determined look in her eyes.

"Wait a minute," Mako said, "What do you mean most of his injures?"

The healer sighed.

"He took a bad hit to the head. This hit had caused damage to his optic nerve. He will never see again."

Mako felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his insides. His little brother could not be blind; he just couldn't be.

"Isn't there anything that you can do," Mako asked is eyes pleading with the healer.

The healer shook her head.

At this Mako scared sending fire out of his mouth.

Korra having heard all she needed to know was already on Naga and heading off the island. Mako on the other hand had more important things to worry about.

"Can I see him?" Mako asked.

"Of course," the healer said, "Just don't wake him up, he needs his strength to recover."

Mako nodded and opened the door. Bolin was laying sound asleep on the bed in the middle of the room. He had a bandage on his forehead and a cast on his arm. Before Mako could take a step into the room however Pabu ran past him and jumped onto the bed with Bolin.

"Bolin you can't stay out of trouble for one minute can you," Mako said taking a set next to Bolin's bed.

"I'm so sorry, this happened bro. When Mom and Dad died I made a promise that I would protect you." Mako said. He than reached down and took Bolin's good hand into his.

"I will help you through this and we will get the people who did this to you," Mako continued, "They will not get away with this.

Mako than turned to Pabu and reached out to scratch his ears with his free hand.

"And thank you, if it wasn't for you we might not have found him in time."

Pabu licked Mako's hand in response.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't long after Mako got into see Bolin that Chief Beifong walked into the room.

"Tenzin, told me the healers had done everything they could and that I could find you in here," Beifong said.

"Did you find the people who did this," Mako asked.

"Not yet, but we will."

Mako nodded and turned back to his brother.

"I need to know everything that happened," Beifong said pulling a chair up to where Mako was sitting.

"I wasn't there," Mako said. "I wasn't there to protect my brother."

"I know, but I still need to get information from you. Like, how you found your brother, when did you last see him before this attack and most importantly do you know anyone who would want to hurt you brother?" Beifong said.

"The last time I saw Bolin was right after our match and I didn't really find him Pabu lead me to him," Mako answered. "As for who who want to hurt him I don't know. For years while we lived on the streets we did what we needed to to survive. However, I don't think we upset anyone to the degree that they will attack one of us all these years later."

"Where was he when you found him?"

"He was at the docks not far from that new Fire Nation restaurant," Mako answered.

With this Beifong nodded and closed the notebook she had been writing notes on.

"That's all I needed," Beifong said standing up and taking a look at Bolin. "I promise we will do everything we can to bring the people who did this to justice. When he wakes up I will need to come back to see if he remembers anything."

At this Mako simply nodded.

After Beifong left Mako stayed right were he was at. He was not going to leave until Bolin was awake. He knew that when Bolin discovered what happened to him, he would be scared. Mako was not going to let Bolin by alone.

Mako sat there the whole night and as the sun started to come up he had fallen asleep.

It was at this moment that Bolin woke up.

" _Did they have to hit that hard,"_ Bolin thought as he became aware of his surroundings. " _Why are the lights out."_

Bolin groaned when he hit is injured arm.

" _It feels like my arm is broken so I guess that Tahno gets his wish. I won't earthbend with a broken arm,"_ Bolin thought. _"I need to get the light on. I cannot stand not being able to see."_

With that thought Bolin started to get up to turn on the light, waking Mako up as he did so.

Coming to Mako was a little confused not relieving that he had fallen asleep, but quickly became aware of what was going on around him when he noticed Bolin awake and trying to get up.

"Bo take it easy," Mako said gently pushing Bolin back down on the bed. "The healer said you need to rest."

"Mako," Bolin said.

"Yeah, I'm here bro."

"Why are the lights off?" Bolin asked.

The question was like a punch in the gut to Mako. A small part of him wanted the healer to be wrong and for Bolin to be able to see. Bolin's question had dashed all of those hopes and now he had to tell his little brother that he was now blind. He had no idea how to brake that kind of news.

"Bolin, the lights are not out," Mako said.

"What do you mean?" Bolin said a confused look coming on his face. "Why can't I see than?

"Bolin after the healer got through look at you she told us that you were…" Mako stumbled on his words a little. "She told us that you had taken a hard hit to the head and because of that you lost you eye sight. She told us you were blind."

"No…" Bolin said shaking his head. "That can't be true. You're lying, I can't be blind."

The fear in Bolin's voice and the tears rolling down his checks was more than Mako could take. Mako pulled Bolin into a hug and while being care of his injures held Bolin as tightly as he could. It was as if he was trying to protect Bolin from this sad truth.

"Bo you know I would not lie to you about something like this."

At this Bolin only cried harder, burying his face into his brother's shoulder.

"Why did he do this? Why? He did not need to blind me."

"Who, Bolin?" Mako asked, while he knew his brother was hurting this was a question he really wanted answered. No one hurt his brother like this and got away with it.

"Tahno and his team. They had been paying off the referees, but the new one wouldn't be paid off."

Mako could not believe what he heard. His brother was blinded because of a Pro-bending match. He when was done with Tahno he was going to be unrecognizable.

"He would get to you again bro. And I will help you through this," Mako said continue to hold Bolin close as he cried.

Mako did not know how long he held Bolin while he cried but in time he fell asleep and Mako laid him back down on the bed. Not long after that the healer came in to check on Bolin and after telling her that Bolin had woke up Mako headed out.

He was making his way out when he ran across Korra who apparently just got back.

"I can't believe I wasn't able to find anything," Korra said to Naga. "Someone has to know something."

"Don't worry, I know exactly who did this," Mako said walking up to Korra.

Korra turned clearly having not noticed that Mako was there.

"Bolin woke up and told me what happened."

"How did he take…" Korra started to ask. She did not need to finish.

"Hard."

"Who did this?" Korra asked.

"Tahno and his team." Mako answered.

Korra nodded. "Come on."

With that Korra jumped onto Naga and Mako followed her.

When Korra had joined the Fire Ferrets she could not believe how early the team had to train. She thought that 5 a.m. was no time to be up and moving around. However, that was the time they were assigned. She learned at what time every team had to practice. So she knew that the Wolfbats gym time started in five minutes. And they had somethings they needed to answer for.

Mako and Korra made it to the gym right as the Wolfbats started their practice.

Tahno and his team were standing by the practice nets.

"I believe that the gym is ours now," Tahno called when he saw who it was.

Korra did not give him a chance to say anything else. Not bothering with any of the elements Korra punched Tahno in the face sending him flying a few feet back.

Tahno stood up shock clearly visible on his face. He had not expected that Korra would hit him.

"You just found yourself out of the championship," Tahno said standing up.

"Do you think I care about that," Korra shouted. "How dare you attack Bolin like that."

"I did not attack you earthbender, I didn't even know he was attacked." Tahno said with a smirk on his face.

"You liar, Bolin told Mako what you did."

"That is all the evidence you have and if Bolin took a hard hit to the head that can even be questionable," Tahno said.

At this Mako walked around Korra and throw a fireball at Tahno's feet causing him to step back.

"You really are low," Mako said he stepped forward and picked Tahno up by his collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Did you know that that attack, you didn't even know about had cost Bolin his eyesight," Mako said than put his face less than an inch way from Tahno.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't burn your eyes out?"

At this Tahno was viable shaking, he knew that Mako was very likely to make good on his threat. However, as Mako's hands started to ignite and metal cord wrapped around it and pulled him back. Mako now found himself a good few feet from Tahno and staring up at Chief Beifong, who did not look happy.

With Mako out of the way she metalbent cuffs around all of the members of the Wolfbats team.

"You all are here by under arrest for the assault on the earthbender Bolin," Chief Beifong said as her officers came in to lead the team away.

Once they were gone she turned on Mako and Korra.

"Have you two lost your minds?" Beifong asked. "Tenzin had over heard your conversation this morning and had radioed me. You guys did not even stop to think for a minute what the consequences would have been in attacking them. Not only could it have hurt the city's case against them, but it would put you two in some hot water."

"I want you two to get back to Air Temple Island and let the police handle this."

When Mako and Korra did not move Chief Beifong took a different approach.

"Head back to Air Temple Island now or I might reconsider not charging you two for assaulting the Wolfbats just now."

After this Mako and Korra head out and back to Air Temple Island.

"At least they are going to face justice for what they did," Korra said.

"Yeah," Mako said feeling that no matter what form of justice awaited those three it would not be enough.


	3. Chapter 3

After Korra and Mako got back to Air Temple Island and talked with Tenzin. Mako was not happy that he felt the need to get the Chief involved. Mako headed to the room were Bolin was at.

When Mako walked in he was happy to see that Bolin was awake. Bolin was sitting propped up on some pillows, petting Pabu and starring at the wall across from.

" _No not starring, he can never stare at anything again,_ " Mako corrected himself.

"Hey Bolin how are you feeling?" Mako asked taking a set next to him.

"Fine I guess," Bolin answered jumping a little when Mako talked not realizing that he had came in. "Pabu had came in and kept me company."

Mako smiled at the ferret in Bolin's lap who was currently licking his back. Mako had been against getting that ferret, but now he would always be grateful to it. If it hadn't been for Pabu Mako didn't want to think about how things could have ended.

"So now what?" Bolin asked pulling Mako out of his thought.

"What do you mean?"

Bolin turned in the general direction of Mako.

"Bro, we got off of the streets through Pro-bending. I can't play blind and how are you going to find a new earthbender on such short notice? And what are we going to do for income without Pro-bending?" Bolin asked and than his voice dropped. "What can I do blind?"

"We're not finding a new earthbender," Mako said and when Bolin opened his mouth to continue.

"The championship is not that important. Anyway we are probably going to win by default anyways."

At this Bolin gave Mako a confused look.

"The Wolfbats were arrested this morning," Mako explained. "No one attacks my brother and gets away with it."

At this Bolin smiled. It was a small smile, but it was still there.

"For a moment I was worried that you were going to hurt them and get in trouble yourself."

At this Mako scratched the back of his head giving a nervous smile. At that moment he made up his mind to never tell Bolin how close he had come to burning Tahno's eyes out.

"That doesn't answer, my most important question. What are we going to do now? Pro-bending was our livelihood, how are we going to make ends meat now. There is nothing I will be able to do. It looks like you might have to find a new earthbender for next season anyways," Bolin said.

"You let me worry about that, you just worry about getting better," Mako said.

"That's not…" Bolin started, but Mako cut him off.

"I know at this moment you don't think you can do the things you did before, but trust me you can over come this."

"How last time I checked being blind is kind of permanent," Bolin said.

"Bro, do you remember when you started trying to learn metalbending," Mako said smiling at the memory.

"Yeah, and if I remember correctly that did not work out well. I ended up getting so frustrated that I hit the piece of metal I was trying to bend. Caused my hand to swell up twice its size."

"So the results were not that good," Mako agreed. At the time he had been worried that Bolin had broken his hand. "What I was thinking about was not the results, but the reason why you wanted to learn metalbending."

"I had just learned about Toph and admired her. I wanted to learn this technique that she had invented," Bolin said, but than added. "What does that have to do with anything."

"Bro, Toph was born blind," Mako said, "and she became one of the greatest earthbenders in history."

"Bolin, she did this by seeing with earthbending," Mako added.

"You think I can learn how to do this?" Bolin asked figuring out where Mako was going with this.

"Yes, I do bro," Mako said nodding his head even through he knew that Bolin could not see him. "Let's let you recover first, okay."

"It can't go worst than the last time I tried to learn one of Toph's techniques," Bolin said going back to petting Pabu.

At this Mako put a hand on Bolin's shoulder.

"But Mako even if I do learn how to see with earthbending things will not be the same. And I don't know if I will ever be able to get use to not being able to see."

"I know, bro," Mako answered, "Just know that I will be there for you throughout this whole mess."

After a moment of silence, with the only sound being Pabu moving around under Bolin's hands, Bolin brought back up the one question Mako did not answer.

"Mako what are we going to do for money, without Pro-bending?"

"Let me worry about that, okay," Mako said. "Try to get some rest."

With that Mako left Bolin to rest, not liking the fact that Bolin was right. Before they got involved in Pro-bending they had been living on the streets. He had even become a part of the triads in order to stay alive. They would either need to find a new earthbender until Bolin recovered or he would have to find a job.

These thoughts penetrated Mako's mind as he walked into the yard in front of healers' rooms. When Bolin was injured that was all he was focused on; that and finding the person who did this. Bolin just happened to remember how this would effect them financial.

That was always something that Mako worried about, not Bolin. And as far as Mako was concerned Bolin did not need to be worrying about that right now.

But what were they going to do.

"Hey Mako," Korra called running up to him.

"Yeah," Mako said.

"I over heard your conversation with Bolin," Korra said.

"You were eavesdropping on us," Mako all but shouted.

"No I was going to go see Bolin when I over heard you," Korra said crossing her arms over her chest.

Mako sighed.

"Sorry, I'm just a little on edge right now."

"I don't think you will need to worry that must about keeping off the streets," Korra said.

"How do you figure that?" Mako said, "You don't know anything about…"

"Yeah, I know I know nothing about these kinds of things," Korra said. "However, you and Bolin can stay here while Bolin recovers. Also you are right that earthbending can help Bolin see, by the next season he may be able to participate."

"I don't know, Korra," Mako said scratching the back of his neck. Mako knew that Bolin was a very skilled bender and would be about to learn how to sense things with sonic vibrations. He did not, however, think Bolin should be jumping into Pro-bending.

"At the very least staying here will give Bolin a chance to recover and you time to figure things out," Korra said.

At this Mako smiled. It would also enable him to focus on taking care of his brother.

"Thank you, Korra."

"Great, we have rooms ready for you in the boys dormitory," Korra said. "We had them ready just in case."

After that Korra looked away from Mako.

"What do you think they're going to do about the Wolfbats?" Korra asked.

"I don't know," Mako said, "but if Tahno or any member of his team comes within 50 feet of Bolin I will make go on my threat earlier."

"Oh, I will help you with that," Korra said, her voice showing that she shared Mako's angry.

"So where will we be staying," Mako asked wanting to get the conversation away from the Wolfbats.

"Come on I will show you," Korra said waving her hand in the general direction of the dormitories and headed off in that direction.

"So how do you plan to help Bolin see feeling sonic vibrations?" Korra asked as they walked into the dormitories.

Mako sighed once again.

"I have no idea."


	4. Chapter 4

It was a week before the healer allowed Bolin out of bed. Bolin himself could not be happier about that. He wanted to be moving around again.

"Now you are not going to be up of your usually activities for a while," the healer told him.

" _I'm not ever going to be able to do my usually activities,_ " Bolin thought to himself. He did not say this to the healer however. She had done nothing but help him over the past week. So Bolin only nodded.

The healer smiled.

"As a bender I am sure that you are aware of the fact that benders feel a certain connection to their element," the healer said.

Bolin nodded, he was well aware of this fact.

"Well, what is not so well known is that this makes it to where being around one's element can help one heal."

At this Bolin's eyebrow went up.

"Waterbenders can heal faster if they are surround by water like in a bath and earthbenders, like yourself, can heal fast if they spend sometime outside."

At this Bolin smiled, while he knew that he was going to be allowed out of his bed, going outside was more than he had hoped for.

"Now, I may be allowing you outside, it doesn't mean that you are allowed to earthbend. I want that arm of yours out of that cast before you even try that," the healer explained.

Bolin nodded understanding, but he had a new question that came to his mind.

"So when firebenders want to heal faster do they light themselves on fire?" Bolin asked, "It would be surrounding themselves with their element."

At this the healer laughed.

"Here I thought you weren't going to say anything," the healer said though her laughter. "And no firebenders do not light themselves on fire, any healer who even thinks that a good idea has lost their minds. For a firebender I would suggest being in a warm room, with a large fire in the fire place."

After this the healer started to help Bolin up and lead him outside. The healer took things slow, never letting go of Bolin's arm. The change of surround was surprising for Bolin.

Never in his life did he realize how much he relied on his eyesight, until he started moving around without it. It was almost like the rooms themselves sound different. The room he had spent the last week in was quiet with the occasional scratching that followed Pabu when he moved around. The hallway echoed with each step he and the healer took, with the sound of wind coming in through the windows. It sounded like what he imaged the inside of a hollow ball would sound like.

None of this he noticed when he could see.

Outside was completely different as well, with the wind blowing through the leaves and the birds and inserts moving around.

The healer lead Bolin to a bench, which if Bolin's memory served him right set in the middle of the island.

"Alright, I'm going to leave you here and I will be back in a little while," the healer said. At this Bolin nodded.

With that Bolin found himself alone, once again taking note of how different it sounded to be outside. In away everything out there sounded alive, with the insects in the trees beside his bench, the birds flying around in the trees and a chipmunk-squirrel at the base of one of the trees.

After awhile Bolin heard something that was not nature, more like someone walking through the grass. This person came and sat down on the set right next to him.

"It good to see you up and about," Korra said after a minute.

"I'm not really 'up and about'," Bolin said. "The healer leaded me here. I think if I try to go anywhere I will walk into a wall."

"Actually, I think you would hit a tree before you got to the wall," Korra said.

At this Bolin gave a small laughed.

"How is it that you can joke about this?" Bolin asked.

"Because I know that in time you will be just as mobile as you were before," Korra said. "And I know you and I wanted to get you to laugh a little. With everything that has been going on I feel that you need it."

"I wish I was as sure as you are about me walking around on my own again," Bolin said. "I knew Mako wants to teach me to use the vibrations in the earth to see, but have you ever heard of a firebender teaching an earthbending technique?"

At this Korra rubbed her chin.

"Now that I think about it, no," Korra said, then she smiled adding.

"I'm going to have to see this. And once we have our fun laughing at Mako's attempts, I know there are a few earthbender teachers who do teach that technique."

"You never knew," Bolin said, "Maybe Mako is the greatest earthbender in the world, his chi may simply be confused thinking he is a firebender."

At this Korra laughed so hard that she fell off of the bench.

Unknown to Korra or Bolin, Mako was standing in the walkway that looked out into the yard and could hear everything that was being said. While the joke had been at his expense he was happy to see Bolin joking again.

Bolin wiggles his bare feet in the dirt around the bench. The healer was right, it felt good to be outside and around earth again.

"Korra, I don't know how I am going to handle living without my eyesight," Bolin explained. "And before you say anything I knew that you and Mako will be there for me, it just everything is going to be different now."

"Bolin, when I was little and at the beginning of my Avatar training I had a tutor who was sole purpose was to teach me about the spiritual world and the balance between the our world and the Spirit World," Korra said.

"Why do I get the feeling that that was not your best subject," Bolin said.

"No," Korra said with a smile, "One time I tutor said she 'couldn't understand how I was the Avatar with my lack of understanding on spiritual matters."

"Not that I'm not interested in your past tutors, but why are you bring this up?" Bolin asked.

"Because one of her lessons that I did remember was the lesson on change," Korra said. "Part of what keeps the two worlds in balance is the constant change and as such change could be good or bad. With this being the case changes will happen that we don't like, but we can learn to work with it. Than she went on to talk about how as Avatar it was my job to find out how to keep balance with the changes in the world."

"Believe it or not Korra, I don't find much comfort that," Bolin said.

With this Korra got back onto the bench and pulled Bolin into a hug.

"What I'm trying to say is that while this is not a good change, we can find a way to work with it. I honestly believe that in time, you will be doing things completely on your own again."


	5. Chapter 5

Slowly Bolin started to get used to not seeing, well not complete use to it. It had gotten to the point were he was not surprised anymore when he opened his eyes and could not see. Deep down, Bolin wondered if he would ever get completely use to not seeing.

Bolin may not have known how he was going to handle being blind when he was not in the healer's care, but that did not stop him from recovering. It wasn't long after he was allowed out into the yard, that the healer allowed him to leave the healer's rooms. While his arm was still in a cast and the healer had told him that it would be weeks before he could remove it or began bending again.

It was nice not to have the healer breathing down his neck all the time.

Before letting him out the healer had given Bolin a cane to help him see around. Bolin found it very strange to hit things with a stick to see around. Meelo had found this cane very funny and had stolen it from Bolin the second day he had had it.

Bolin had been walking around the court yard, trying to get use to to the cane, when he had taken a brake, sitting down on the bench in the middle of the island. This was slowly becoming Bolin's spot.

While Bolin was sitting on the bench Meelo walked up as quietly as he could so that Bolin would not hear him and took the cane.

Meelo than pretended to be blind, using the cane. Somehow always finding himself close enough to his sisters to hit them.

When Bolin had found out what had happened he had tried to get his cane back only to trip over a tree branch.

It wasn't long however before Pema found Meelo with the cane. Bolin swears he had never heard Pema that mad at one of her children before. She had Meelo return the cane and apologize. That had been days ago and Meelo had still not completed his punishment, it looked like he would be doing a lot of extra chores for a while.

Bolin now found himself at the breakfast table with everyone else.

"Did you hear that the Wolfbats are going to trial this Friday?" Ikki said.

At Ikki's words everyone else at the table tensed up. Mako and Korra had purposely not mentioned anything about what was happening with the Wolfbats. They knew when they were scheduled for trial, but they did not want Bolin worrying about that.

Ikki did not notice the people around her reactions and kept going.

"Do you think they will go to prison? Maybe they will be made to pay a fine? If they have to pay a fine will any of that money go to Bolin? Do you think they will need to to testify?

Ikki directed this last question to Bolin.

"Ikki," Pema said in a warning voice.

"What, I was just wondering," Ikki said.

"No one has said anything to me about testifying," Bolin said. "I don't know if they will need me to or not."

"Don't worry about it bro," Mako said. Bolin simple nodded and tried to go back to his breakfast.

After that the kitchen table became quiet. Even Ikki did not say anything, realizing that she should not have said anything about the trial. A major feat for her.

After Ikki's questions Bolin could not bring himself to finish his breakfast. He simply moved his fork around in his food given it the appearance of having been eaten. Allowing his mind to think. These past few days he had been happy to be out of the healer's room. Being given a room in the boys' dormitory and starting to do things on his own. The fact that the Wolfbats would be heading to trial hadn't even crossed his mind. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that he had done everything he could to forget about his attack. Which included who had attacked him. He would like to pretend that he had simply had an accident and that was the reason he was blind. While he knew that was not the truth it was easier to live with than the knowledge that someone did this to him on purpose.

Bolin sighed steering hard into his plate. Ikki was always talking and asking questions, but the questions she asked today reminded Bolin that he could not continue to pretend it was an accident. It also put knot in his stomach, because it brought up the possibility that not only will he have to face what happened to him but also may have to face that people who did this to him.

At this thought Bolin stabbed at his food. He did not know if he could do that. Even though he would not be able to see them, he would know they were in the same room.

That was it, Bolin pushed his plate away from him.

"Can you all excuse me?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer Bolin took his cane and walked out of the door.

It was not long after he left that Bolin heard foot steps following him. He did not need to be able to see them to know who it was.

"You don't need to follow me, Mako," Bolin said, "I'm fine."

"Right, that's why my brother who had a bottomless pit for a stomach left breakfast without putting more than one bit in his mouth," Mako replied back.

"Come on, bro you can talk to me," Mako added. The worry was showing clearly though his voice.

"Did you know that Tahno and the others were going to trial this week?" Bolin asked.

With this Mako could not bring himself to look at Bolin, turning his head to look at the wall behind Bolin.

"Yeah, I knew."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bolin asked.

"I did not want you to worry about it," Mako said. "With everything else that is going on, this is the last thing you need to worry about."

"Do you think they will make me testify?" Bolin asked.

"Lin thought it would be a good idea if you did," Mako said, knowing there was no point in hiding it now. "She thought it would strength the case against them."

"So why wasn't I told about this?"

"Bolin, I don't think you should be worrying about this," Mako said, "Lin may have said that, but they already have a strong case as it is."

"I don't want to testify," Bolin said.

"I kno…" Mako started, but Bolin cut him off.

"I do, however, want to be in the courtroom doing the trial."

This throw Mako off a little. He imagined Bolin having may reactions to the news of the Wolfbats trial, but this was not one of them.

"Are you sure about that?"

Bolin turned in Mako's general direction.

"No, I would like to pretend that I had lost my eyesight do to an accident, but I can't do that. I need to face what happen," Bolin said. "I as much as I hate Tahno and his team, I do not believe they had meant to blind me. I want them to see their handy work, not just be told what happened."

Bolin than sighed and his tone of voice became more serious than Mako ever remembers hearing it.

"I need to be in that courtroom."

Mako nodded. "Alright if you are sure."

"Mako can I ask you a favor though?" Bolin asked, his voice starting to lose a lot of its confidence.

"Sure."

"Will you come with me to the trial?"

At this Mako put his arms around Bolin.

"Bro, do you think I will make you face this alone," Mako said, "No scratch that, do you think I will _let_ you face this alone."

Mako did not say it out loud, but the idea of his brother even being in the same room as the Wolfbats made him uneasy.

After awhile Bolin asked to be left alone and Mako head off to his room. He did not make it all the way before he was cut off by Korra. Korra had been waiting for him just outside of the men's dormitory.

"Is he okay?" Korra asked as soon as Mako was in hearing distance.

"In all honesty Korra, I don't know," Mako said.

"Ohhh, why did Ikki have to bring up the trial?" Korra said.

"Bolin wants to go to the trial," Mako said.

"What?" Korra said surprised.

"I know, that what I said," Mako said.

"Than we will all be there," Korra said and a worried face started to grow on her face. "You know if Bolin is going to be there, Lin is going to want him to testify."

"I know, but Bolin does not want to," Mako said. "And I am not going to let him be forced into doing anything he does not want to do."


	6. Chapter 6

The day of the trial came a lot faster than Bolin would have like. Before he knew it Friday morning had arrived.

That morning Pema had prepared a large breakfast and everyone at the breakfast table tried to keep the conversation as far away from the trial as they could. Despite their best efforts Bolin couldn't get his mind off of the trial.

" _Today is the day_ ," he thought to himself, " _I will have to face them today. Why was I so adamant about needing to be there? Both Korra and Mako didn't think I needed to, but for some reason I just had to go. Now I will be leaving this island for the first time in almost a month and it has to be for this of all things."_

Bolin was so lost in thought that he had jumped a little with someone put their hand on his shoulder.

"I know your nervous, bro," Mako said having just taken the sit next to Bolin. "But you really should eat something."

Bolin nodded and took a few small bits of his breakfast.

Sooner than Bolin would have like it was time to go. The plan was that Tenzin would take them over to the courthouse on Oogi.

The ride on Oogi was Bolin's first time flying, but he couldn't bring himself to enjoy it.

Before long they were landing in front of the courthouse.

Everyone climbed off of Oogi's back. Bolin subconsciously stepped closer to Mako. On Air Temple Island he had some idea of where he was and how to get around, that was not the case here. Bolin had never been to Republic City's courthouse; he would have no prior memories to help him find his way around. Not to mention the fact that there was going to be a lot of people there.

"Don't worry, I'll walk in front of you. Just listen for my directions," Mako said noticing his brother move closer to him and guessing the reason.

The group made their way up the steps of the courthouse. Lin was waiting for them at the top of the steps.

"Good morning, Lin," Tenzin said when the reached her.

Lin nodded and turned to Bolin.

"I'm happy to see that you decided to come. Are you still sure that you do not wish to testify? Because if you do, now is your last chance to say anything."

Bolin took a deep breath and answered.

"I know you think I should, but I don't know that I can. So, no I will not testify."

Lin looked Bolin over.

"Alright kid," Lin said.

Lin lead them into the courtroom and they took their sits.

Now sitting down, Bolin relaxed a little. Not much, but a little. He could hear the courtroom filling up. He had no idea how many people were in the courthouse or how many people would be in there when the trial started.

Than Bolin felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew that someone was staring at him. He could feel both Korra and Mako slide just of a little closer to him on the bench they were sitting on.

The accused had come into the courthouse.

Bolin simply kept his head facing straight forward. He was not going to give them the time of day.

A few minutes later the judge called the court to order and the trial began.

It was a long trial, longer than he had thought it was going to be. He did his best to keep calm as he listened to accounts of his attack, the injures it had caused and the defense lawyer's claims that while the attack on him was tragic it was not his clients who did it.

The trial was as hard as Bolin thought it would be. Adding to it all was the stares coming from the Wolfbats. While he could not see them, he knew that at least one of them was looking at him throughout the trial. Finally, after hours of listening to all the evidence and all the accounts the jury left to deliberate. When the jury came back Bolin thought everything would be over.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" the judge asked.

"We have," said one of the jurors, "We find the defendants not guilty of the crime of assault."

"What?" Mako shouted apparently forgetting were he was.

"Order," the judge said and turned to Mako, "Sir, if you have an outburst like that again I will have you removed."

Mako glared at the judge and the jury, but did not say a word. He could not believe that Tahno and his team were getting away with what they did to Bolin.

"The court thanks the jury for their time," the judge says and the court is dismissed.

Bolin couldn't move. They were getting away with it. They attacked him and they were getting away with it.

"Bolin are you okay?" Korra asked.

Bolin just shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, lets get out of here," Mako said in a low voice pulling his brother to his feet.

They didn't make it out of the courtroom before Bolin felt Mako pull him behind him.

"Bolin, I just want to say how sorry I am about what happened to you," Tahno said in a voice as sickly sweet as it possibly could be. "I do hope they catch the people who did this to you."

"You just stay away from him," Mako said.

"I was only expressing my sympathy over what happened," Tahno said putting a hand over his heart.

"Well, I'm just letting you know that if you come within ten feet of my brother you will regret it," Mako said. With that Mako gripped Bolin's hand and shoved his way past Tahno. It had taken every bit of self control Mako had not to burn Tahno right than and there. Once outside of the courthouse Mako went straight to were Oogi was sitting. Mako helped Bolin get up and into his sable. It was than that Mako noticed that Korra did not follow him out of the courthouse.

"Bolin would you wait here for a moment," Mako said. Bolin nodded in responds and Mako was off.

He found Korra at the front of the courthouse talking with Lin.

"What do you mean there is nothing more you can do?" Korra said.

"They were found innocent by a jury of their peers, as far as the law is concerned they did not attack Bolin," Lin said.

"Well, put them on trial again," Korra said.

"I can't there is such a thing as double jeopardy, a person cannot be charged with the same crime twice," Lin said.

"Why did the jury find them innocent?" Mako asked out he got to them.

"I managed to talk with one of the jurors and according to him, the jury did not feel that there was enough evidence," Lin said.

"What?" Korra said.

"A case was centered around Bolin's accounts and what we believed the Wolfbats motives would have been. The jury felt that this was not strong enough evidence," Lin explained.

"So Bolin is blind and the people who did it just get to walk free," Korra said.

"Sometimes the system works and somethings it doesn't, sadly this is one of the times it doesn't," Lin said.


End file.
